Zi Yan was really panicked. She used to think that she was the Holy Maiden of the White Lotus Sect and had a noble status. She didn't even take the emperor seriously.
He was pretending to be nice to Lu Chen all day long, just because he thought Lu Chen was a talented person and wanted to win him over.
Even though she is in a brothel, if she wants to leave, it will only take a few minutes.
But now Zi Yan suddenly realized that without the Holy Church, she would be unable to accomplish anything.
She messed up just getting some medicinal herbs. At this moment, she had begun to deeply doubt her own abilities.
She was also very angry about the Artemisia annua price hike and resorted to murder. But as Li Zhuo said, once the market makes its own choices, killing people is impossible to control the situation.
When Zi Yan thought about the many brothers and sisters in the Holy Church who were about to die because they didn't want her, she felt like there were ten thousand ants biting her heart.
Looking at the painful expression on Zi Yan's face, Lu Chen felt that it was enough. If he continued playing like this, it would be easy to ruin the oiran.
Just when he was about to let Zi Yan get up, Mou Ping hurriedly ran in and said, "Master, there are some herbal merchants outside who want to see you. They say they want to discuss something with you."
Lu Chen chuckled and thought to himself that he hadn't even gone to look for these people yet, and they actually came to him.
He pondered for a moment and nodded, "Let's take it to the living room first."
Soon the two sides met in the living room. This time, there were ten medicinal material merchants, and it seemed that they had big plans.
After Lu Chen came out, the group stood up to greet him. Lu Chen sat down and raised his hand before getting straight to the point: "Let's skip the formalities. What brings you here to see me this time?"
The middle-aged man in green clothes, leading the charge, bowed again and said, "We heard that the Imperial Master is leading the fight against the epidemic in Yangzhou. Seeing the epidemic raging across China, we are also anxious, so we have brought some medicine here, hoping to be of assistance to the Imperial Master. We have purchased a large amount of Artemisia annua, especially the Artemisia annua needed to treat this epidemic. As long as the Imperial Master gives the order, we will absolutely work at full speed to transport all the herbs here."
Lu Chen put down the tea in his hand and laughed heartily: "I really didn't expect that you all would still have such patriotism. Then I will accept it without hesitation!"
The merchants present were all confused. "What do you mean you accepted it? Why don't you ask for a price? Can't you see that we came to you this time just to negotiate a good price?"
I've never seen anyone as shameless as you. You really are good at climbing up the ladder.
The middle-aged man's expression of dissatisfaction disappeared in an instant, and then he continued to smile and bowed, saying, "Master, please accept the medicinal herbs we brought this time. If necessary, we can also help transport them to the four cities."
"However, this amount of herbs is probably just a drop in the bucket. We will probably need more herbs in the future. I wonder if the Imperial Master can agree on a price with us right now? Although we are also worried about the country and the people, we also have the capital to do business, not to mention the risk of entering the epidemic area."
After hearing this, the businessmen behind also nodded.
Although the several ships of medicinal herbs brought this time are valuable, it would still be worth it if we could use these herbs to make friends with Lu Chen.
Besides, no matter how much medicinal materials Lu Chen embezzled from them this time, they can earn it back from subsequent business. In any case, they will not suffer any loss.
After hearing this, Lu Chen nodded and said, "Of course, it's natural for businessmen to pursue profits. I wonder what price you are looking for? By the way, I haven't asked for this gentleman's name yet."
"I don't deserve it. I'm Xiao Jinquan, a humble man. I make a living selling medicinal herbs. As for the price of the herbs, since we are all here to contribute to the people in the epidemic area, we can't take it for granted. How about we set it at 50% of the current market price? We only want half the price, which is very conscientious."
how?
Lu Chen felt that it was not very good, very not very good!
He slammed the teacup onto the table and said, "Shopkeeper Xiao, if I remember correctly, the price of Artemisia annua has been driven up to twenty taels of silver per qian by unscrupulous herbal medicine merchants. The fifty percent you mentioned is still ten taels of silver per qian."
One qian of the Great Qi Dynasty was approximately equal to 5 grams in later generations. This shows how ruthless the medicinal material merchants were at that time, and how they had driven up the price of life-saving drugs to an outrageous level.
According to Lu Chen's understanding, the price of Artemisia annua was about five cents of silver per pound before. What a terrible profit gap.
Xiao Jinquan was not angry when Lu Chen pointed out his secret thoughts. He just smiled and explained, "Master Imperial Master, what you said is wrong. The price of medicinal materials is inherently fluctuating. When the price of medicinal materials in the market rises, the price we pay for them also rises. We are doing business. You can't let us lose money."
Lu Chen didn't rush to speak. Instead, he picked up the tea on the table and drank several sips happily. Finally, he looked at Xiao Jinquan and the others in front of him and said, "If I'm not mistaken, all the prominent medicinal material merchants in China should be here."
Xiao Jinquan bowed and said, "There are a few people from the south who haven't come, but the people from the north who have a say and can decide the direction of the market are basically here."
"So, the price of Artemisia annua was driven up by people like you, right?"
Xiao Jinquan didn't say anything, but from the smug expression on his face, it could be seen that this was probably the case.
Lu Chen put down his teacup, looked at these people coldly and said, "Everyone, do you know how many people will be killed by driving up prices like this? Doesn't your conscience hurt? Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
Without waiting for a response from these people, Lu Chen asked himself, "That's right. You're all businessmen now. You've long since lost your conscience, and you don't care about retribution. Then I want to ask, aren't you afraid that the imperial court will chop off your heads by driving up prices like this?"
After saying this, a murderous look appeared on Lu Chen's face, but his expression did not scare the businessmen present. They sat there indifferently, and some even had contemptuous expressions on their faces.
Xiao Jinquan was probably the person they had chosen to lead the charge. He smiled nonchalantly and said, "Master, you're joking. We are businessmen. As you said, it's their nature to chase profit. It's a grave sin to leave money unearned."
"As for the possibility of being beheaded for price gouging, we're also afraid of that. But compared to being beheaded, we're more afraid of not being able to sell our products at a good price."
"Besides, there are so many Chinese businessmen. If you kill me, won't others raise their prices? Besides, our business has grown so big, and we must have the support of noble people behind us. It won't be that easy to chop off our heads!"
This sentence made Lu Chen almost curse. He was also one of the people who had experienced that terrible epidemic. It turned out that the bad things that happened during the epidemic had been passed down. This could be said to have been going on since ancient times!
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